September 25, 2007

Time for some more record reviews, this time I'm reviewing some of my favorite remixes. Since my boy Mr Mass just hit me off with two dope mixes I've been dying to get my hands on, I'm in a generous mood, so I'm going to hit you off with 5 of them.

The first is DJ Spinbad's remix of KRS-One's 'Hip Hop vs. Rap', which was a B-side only on the 'Sound of the Police' 12". You may know DJ Spinbad from his radio time on Hot 97, or his Rock the Casbah mixtapes (two of my favorite mixtapes). He is said to have the quickest hands in New York. Now this here is a muh-fuckin remix if I ever heard one, just a great idea. He takes all of the original records that KRS rhymes about on the song, and plays them as he mentions each song.

Here we have The Roots with their promo only 'Black Thought' remix for 'Distortion to static', a track heard off their 2nd LP 'Do you you want more'. This 12" was a Promo only that Geffen put out that featured 5 remixes for the song. All of them are pretty good remixes, my favorites being this one, and the Freestyle Remix, which featured a verse from Dice Raw. The original is pretty tough to find, but this was recently reissued.

Next we have a remix for 'Get Funky' from the Beatnuts, a 12" from their sophmore 'Street Level' LP. The Beatnuts have some of the nicest production around, they are always find the craziest records to sample and flip them correctly. This remix is dope, with scratches from DJ Mista Sinista.

Epmd's 'Crossover Trunk Mix' is also one of my favorite remixes. As dope as the original version is, after I picked up this remix I started to like it better, probably because I've heard the original so many damn times. I like the way they used the Curtis Mayfield sample, and the way the snare crashes. Another promo only 12"

The last remix is from KMD, with their 'dog spelled backwards mix' of 'Nitty Gritty' from their 'Mr. Hood' Lp. For those who don't know KMD was fronted by MF Doom. This is a tight remix, with a Cat Stevens sample, and guest appearances from Brand Nubian and Busta Rhymes. I always dig the posse cuts, and this one is one of the best. You'll have to excuse the pops on this rip, this was a lucky dollar bin find from back in the day.

September 24, 2007

Kurious may be one of the most slept on MC's from the mid 90's era. His debut LP 'A Constipated Monkey' was a classic, with fresh lyrics, and solid production from the SD50's, Pete Nice, and the Beatnuts (who also dropped some lyrics on the LP). He also had a nasty freestyle ability, as heard from his many appearances on the Stretch and Bobbito Show (Lord Sear was his DJ). One of my favorite tracks which only came out on the 'I'm Kurious' 12", was mansion and a yacht, featuring Sadat X, and Mike G (from the Jungle Brothers).

In a lot of ways Kurious is the complete opposite of what MC's are all about nowadays. He was a humble dude who rhymed about how ugly and broke he was rather than rhyming about how much ice he rocked, or how many people he shot. After this album he kind of disappeared from the scene for awhile, until reemerging on MF Doom's 'Operation Doomsday' LP guest appearing on the track '?'.

What's even more slept on than his LP, is the unreleased track 'Trueness to the Blueness', where he tackles the subject of girls not putting out, and having to deal with blue balls. The shit is hilarious. Produced by the SD50's, they make good use of Sugar Billy's 'Super Duper Love'. For those of you who don't have a honey in your life, this dub's for you...

September 16, 2007

DJ Boogie Blind is one the latest members of the X-Ecutioners, DJ for Pharoah Monche, and also the 2001 Vestax World Champion. His album 'Live At The P.J.'S Harlem, New York,' released in 2003, is a skillful mix of old school hip hip. Here is DJ Boogie Blind with an appearance on 89.9 WKCR in 2003, on what I think was either the CM fam-a-lam radio show, the Lord Sear Special, or Squeeze radio show, playing 80's/90's hip hop.

September 13, 2007

You all should know Xzibit as the host of MTV's 'Pimp my ride'. Some people may not know (hopefully not readers of this blog) that he is also a dope MC, and a former member of the group the Alkaholiks. I had the chance to see him perform at a free show in New Brunswick on the Rutgers campus some time in 96 along with Defari and Phife Dog, a pretty dope show.

Xzibit came through to the New York Live radio show along with Phil tha Agony (who I never heard of before this appearance, but now has some notoriety) in August of 1996. Here is a clip from that appearance featuring some X-sclusive freestyles from the two.

September 6, 2007

As A DJ coming up in the early/mid 90's, I have to admit I knew little about DJ Battles, DMC battles, and turntablism in general, until hearing Roc Raida on the Stretch and Bobbito show in 1994 (which u can find a rip of on Stretch's blog). But it wasn't until 1996 that I became inspired to try my hand at turntablism, and I credit this inspiration to the X-men (now the X-ecutioners) that at the time were carried by Roc Raida, DJ (Mista) Sinista, and Rob Swift. In April of 1996, they made an appearance on the Stretch and Bobbito show on KCR, as well as the XL show they had on Hot 97 to promote the release of their semi-instructional video X-ercise vol 1. After hearing their performances on the radio, I was compelled to buy this video and study what it was they were doing. Until hearing of this video, I didn't see it possible to learn on my own.